Ash cloud hits some European flights but no mass shutdown
LONDON/REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - An ash cloud from a volcano on Iceland shut down flights in northern Britain and elsewhere in north Europe on Tuesday and was heading to Germany, but officials expected no repeat of last year's air chaos.
In some good news for an air industry worried about a repeat of the 2010 volcano-related losses, Iceland's Meteorological Office said the new eruption at the Grimsvotn volcano looked like it was running out of steam.
Conflicts continued over how to apply safety rules for flying in ash, with Germany taking a tougher stance and budget airline Ryanair showing defiance by flying a plane into an ash zone to show it was safe to do so.
Among travelers affected were U.S. President Barack Obama, who left Ireland for Britain late on Monday ahead of schedule. Barcelona soccer team decided to come to London early for Saturday's Champions League final against Manchester United.
European air traffic agency Eurocontrol said 250 flights had been canceled in British airspace, mainly in and out of Scotland, but officials said conditions were set to ease.
"At the moment we think Glasgow and Edinburgh will be affected throughout this afternoon but should be returning to normal tomorrow morning," British Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told BBC TV.
Both Britain and Ireland ruled out closing their airspace on Tuesday, though Ireland stopped Ryanair flying to Scottish airports during the morning.
Hammond said Northern Ireland might be affected on Friday, but saw no serious problems at other British airports on the basis of current forecasts, though much depended on wind patterns.
WRANGLE OVER RULES
An Icelandic volcano eruption last year led to blanket no fly zones being imposed by aviation authorities, stranding 10 million passengers and costing the air industry an estimated $1.7 billion in lost revenue.
Officials say new rules which allow airlines to fly in ash under certain conditions and better coordination by civil aviation bodies mean mass chaos will be avoided.
However, the new rules are not accepted by all, with Germany backing a tougher stance for the sake of safety, aviation sources said. Germany's weather service said north German airspace faced a flight ban from 0600 GMT on Wednesday.
Ryanair has been particularly vocal and said the plane it flew through Scottish airspace, which regulators said has high ash concentration, encountered no ash cloud. An inspection revealed no evidence of ash on the airframe, wings or engines.
"You have to ask why a combination of bureaucratic incompetence in the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) and the Met Office last night shut the skies over Scotland when this morning we have now confirmed there is no volcanic ash material in the atmosphere over Scotland," Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told BBC television.
He was a strong critic of the blanket ban on airlines last year out of concern ash particles could cause engine problems.
LESS ASH
Britain's Met Office Volcanic Ash Advisory Center said its latest forecast showed no high density ash over Britain or Ireland early on Wednesday, and only a medium level over parts of Scotland. The forecast did show high density levels over parts of the northeastern Netherlands and northern Germany.
Eurocontrol said the ash could affect flights in parts of Denmark and southern Scandinavia on Tuesday.
Norway, which had flight restrictions in the west, expected to resume normal commercial air traffic in the evening, though helicopter services to North Sea oil operations were still facing problems. Denmark shut a small area of its airspace.
Eurocontrol has said that if the volcanic emissions continued at the same rate, the cloud could reach western French and northern Spanish airspace on Thursday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to host Obama and other G8 leaders in northern France this week.
Irish airline Aer Lingus, which like British Airways and other carriers canceled flights to northern Britain on Tuesday, expected to operate a full Wednesday schedule.
Icelandic experts said the volcano has shown signs of calming. Met Office meteorologist Halldor Bjornsson said radar showed the ash plume was down to 5 km or less.
Seismic data measuring eruptions also showed a tailing off.
"It all fits in with the same picture that the worst of this eruption is over," he told Reuters. The ash currently being emitted was not enough to drift to European airspace, he added.
Grimsvotn erupted on Saturday and smoke belched as high as 20 km (12 miles) into the sky.
The eruption is the volcano's most powerful since 1873 and stronger than the volcano that caused trouble last year.
(Writing by Simon Johnson and Patrick Lannin, additional reporting by Michael Holden in London, Carmel Crimmins in Dublin, Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels, Oslo newsroom, Mette Fraende in Copenhagen, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)